A man was reportedly kicked off a Southwest Airlines flight en route to Austin via Los Angeles last week after a flight attendant objected to his comment about vodka.

Flight 478 was delayed in Sacramento for hours Friday after a maintenance light illuminated while the plane was still on the tarmac, KTXL-TV reported, forcing the plane to return to the gate.

Further delay ensued because the flight needed to refuel, passenger Peter Uzelac told the station, and flight attendants for the Dallas-based airline eventually passed out water to those on board.

That's when, Uzelac said, a man sitting next to him "said something like, 'They should be passing out vodka because we've been waiting so long.'"

The flight attendant was not pleased with the comment, Uzelac told the news station.

"She came by and was like, 'I don't think that and I didn't like your joke,'" Uzelac said. "Then my wife tried to butt in there and say, 'Look it, we've been on this plane for hours.' And she says, 'Well, so have I, so get used to it.'"

Shortly afterward, he said, he saw the flight attendant on the phone at the front of the plane, and the aircraft again returned to the gate.

Before long, several Sacramento County sheriff's deputies boarded the plane and approached the man sitting next to Uzelac, requesting that he exit the craft.

The Sacramento County sheriff's office said the man was not charged with any crime, but Uzelac said he was shocked that the incident transpired and has filed a complaint against the flight attendant.

"I have been flying for decades, and I've never ever seen anything like this," he said.

According to KTXL, Southwest Airlines released the following statement about the incident:

"We regret any less-than-positive experience a customer has onboard our aircraft. We welcome over 100 million customers each year, and we aim to maintain the comfort of all while delivering Southwest hospitality. We will share this report with our Customer Relations Team."

In an email, a Southwest spokeswoman told TheDallas Morning News that while the airline had no report from its crew or the customer involved to confirm the incident, "Southwest crews are trained to handle various scenarios that might occur onboard our aircraft but would not remove a customer for simply making a joke."